For 20 years, the Coachella Valley Hiking Club has explored with residents and visitors the various canyons and trails that weave across the valley. One of its more popular hikes even takes participants down the main street of Palm Springs.
Founded in 1992 by Philip Ferranti, the club serves about 489 members.
To learn more about scheduled hikes, go to www.cvhikingclub.net. Club president Larry Liguori says new members are welcome, and the first hike is offered free of charge.
How often do you have club hikes?
We do quarterly schedules. Hike leaders send in hikes by mid-December for this first quarter and we put them on the website.
Our hiking schedule is not static. Hike leaders can add hikes at any time. We hike just about every day, through the various hike leaders.
Which trails have you been on?
We have some strenuous hikers in our club. My wife Robin and I lead the Skyline Trail once a year. It goes from behind the museum all the way up to the tram. The distance is 10 miles, but the devil is in the detail of the 8,000-foot elevation.
What's the average number of people who participate?
Yesterday we did a hike in the Indian Canyons, which was 11 miles round-trip, with 3,600 feet of elevation gain, and we had 21 hikers. We had a good turnout. Our average turnout on a hike is maybe 10 to 12 people.
A lot of people hike on their own or with friends or family. What are the benefits of hiking with club members?
It's a lot safer, for one thing. We have certain guidelines that we follow. We ask people to call us or sign up online. We will call them back, tell them how much water to bring, make sure they have the proper footwear. We just need to know a little about people because we don't like to have to deal with emergency situations.
Which trails provide the best views?
We do a VillageFest loop hike. We start at about 5:30 p.m. behind the Palm Springs Art Museum. From there, the lights of the city are just tremendous. It's an 800-foot climb from the desert floor up to the picnic tables. We take a short hike, then we hike south down to Ramon Road. All that while, you've got tremendous views.
